I note with interest letters from the chairs of Alvington Parish Council and Lydney Town Council (Review November 20, 2009 and November 27, 2009) in relation to Gloucestershire County Council's Draft Waste Strategy. (Site Allocation)
As readers are no doubt aware, the county is consulting on the provision of land in Gloucestershire suitable for the development of waste management facilities. Two of the potential sites identified are in Lydney – Hurst Farm, and Lydney Industrial Estate. Both are identified within the plan as being suitable for 'small waste management facilities' and both have a number of constraints attached to their development which would preclude the development of anything more ambitious.
The Draft Waste Strategy is, I believe, flawed in that the choice of sites within the Forest is limited to just these two sites, but this is at least a start. As a county, we desperately need the development of further waste infrastructure if we are to improve recycling rates for municipal and commercial wastes, cut down on unnecessary movement of waste and start to treat waste not as a waste but as a resource which is locally produced and locally utilised.
Unfortunately, Alvington Parish Council and Lydney Town Council appear to have adopted the misguided approach that a 'not in my back yard' stance is preferable to developing a sustainable network of small-scale local waste management facilities. To help out the readers of the Review, the sites proposed by the county council would be suitable for such facilities as civic amenity sites, small scale commercial recycling facilities and small scale waste transfer options. Just the sort of development that could occur unobtrusively on appropriate sites and serve the local public and local commerce and industry, in fact.
Mr Winship at Alvington Parish Council appears to be of the opinion that this development would lead to 'even more heavy lorries trundling back and forth on the A48'. He may pause to consider that this waste is being produced locally at the moment, and this is precisely what is happening to it as it 'trundles back and forth on the A48' to more distant sites. The development of local facilities helps to reduce these impacts, not increase them!
Mr Glastonbury at Lydney Town Council seems to be against the proposals because they may affect proposed housing adjacent to the Hurst Farm site, and also impact on the leisure potential of the area adjacent to Harbour Road.
He may pause to consider that 750 planned houses in the vicinity of Hurst Farm will markedly increase the local population, hence increasing the amount of waste produced locally by the public, commerce and local industry and make the development of local waste infrastructure even more urgent than it already is.
As regards the Harbour Road area – I would not like to see any impact on the docks themselves – as a regular visitor to that area, I am well aware of the fact that they are of great importance to the people of Lydney and to tourists alike. That said, the approach to the Docks runs through Harbour Road which is an industrial area, and for which the development of small scale waste management facilities is entirely in keeping. If Mr Glastonbury objects to the development of local sustainable industry on this site, are we to take it that he objects to any industrial development there? After all, modern waste management facilities are often indistinguishable from adjacent industrial and commercial uses, and I know of examples elsewhere which fit in very well in such a setting.
I have to question whose interests it is that Alvington Parish and Lydney Town Council believe they are serving with their responses to the Draft Waste Strategy. They are certainly not helping local traders, who would presumably welcome the opportunity of greater choice of local waste management options and the potential to save money in the process. They aren't helping local residents either (much as the Civic Amenity site at Oak Quarry is an exemplar facility, another site is badly needed for the Forest, and where better to put it than Lydney, next to the largest urban conurbation? Denying the use of such sites prevents the development of further facilities like this.) Finally, they clearly aren't helping the local environment either, nor the local economy.
I have commented on the plans for the county and welcomed them. I have many issues with the Draft Strategy (not least the abject failure of the county historically to engage people in the Forest – bar the recent events, we've hardly seen anyone from Shire Hall in the Forest to engage the local community on waste issues over the last few years), but they are at least now trying to plan for the future. We cannot ignore these issues and wish them away onto other people – it's our waste and we need to deal with it. – Adrian Jones, Forest of Dean Green Party, 48 Tutnalls Street, Lydney.